A lice Springs sounds like a real let down along with the population of Darwin, apart from that it all sounds so enticing, even with all the animals there that would kill you several times over! Nevertheless, as with all his books, It is well worth reading and I can confidently say that you will enjoy the journey and will come home knowing a lot more about this fascinating Country's interesting features . Having visited several of the Australian locations in this book – Sydney, Canberra, Alice Springs, Uluru, Darwin, and the Great Barrier Reef, among several others – I loved reading about Bill Bryson’s experiences there in his brilliant piece of travel writing, Down Under. His bestselling books include The Road to Little Dribbling, Notes from a Small Island, A Walk in the Woods, One Summer and The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid.

He reserves his funniest writing for those occasions when he encounters total frustration and annoyance. I doubt Bryson would top anyone's list of people to be stuck in a lift with, and yet you can't help hanging on his every word and ascribing it the status of the gospel truth. Terence Blacker, in the Sunday Times, was more temperate, but still dismissed the book as a hack job: "For someone about to visit Australia, Down Under presents a perfect, accessible introduction to the country, its history and its people. The thing that Bryson most loves about Australia - its "effortlessly dry, direct way of viewing the world" - is, in fact, his own.The problem is that, after a few pages, one finds oneself looking forward to the moments when Bryson takes us back to the library. I felt, when reading this book that here we have an author who's churning out one book after another, thinking he's found a winning formula when really it all gets a bit same-o. I will soon start reading Bill Bryson’s ‘A Walk in the Woods’, which is about the Appalachian Trail, and I have no plans to actually go to the US and do the trail myself! My nonfiction books 'Paranormal Warwickshire', 'Illustrated Tales of Warwickshire' and 'A-Z of Warwick' are published by Amberley Publishing. This is, after all, a man who sits through the capital's promotional tourist video, Canberra - It's Got It All!

Accessoirement je vous dirais bien de lire ce roman de Cordwainer Smith : " NORSTRILIA " qui traite de l'Australie . Another travel book, A Walk in the Woods, has become a major film starring Robert Redford, Nick Nolte and Emma Thompson. What I enjoy most is the feeling he gives the reader of moving in close to a subject, examining its quirkiest or most singular aspect, then panning out again to take a more distant or panoramic view. Also, his insatiable thirst for detail finds him, as ever, ferreting out the who, the why and the where to enhance the reader's knowledge of the book's subject matter. It was also published as part of Walk About, which included Down Under and another of Bryson's books, A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail, in one volume.I am glad of the opportunity for reading this book because I learned so much about a Country and its people for which and for whom I have a great affection and previously had little knowledge. You almost don't feel like you don't need to go and see the Sydney Opera House or journey through the Outback, because Bryson has told you all you need to know. This section of the book starts off with historical accounts from the time when Australia was discovered and goes on to illustrate how the Australians built a dynamic and prosperous society from a modest and unpropitious beginning.